Sen. Ron Wyden asked the Office of Special Counsel to investigate whether Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. violated the Hatch Act, the law requiring federal officials to keep their office out of electoral politics, by personally pressuring two Libertarian candidates to abandon their runs for Iowa House seats.
The calls are not in dispute; one is on tape. On June 8, Kennedy phoned Marco Battaglia, running against Rep. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa), and urged him to drop out. On June 11 he made a similar call to Rick Stewart, who recorded it. In the recording, Kennedy frames the stakes in terms of his own department: he would be subject to congressional investigations if Democrats win the House in November. Third-party candidates splitting the right-leaning vote are a recognized threat to Republican margins in close districts.
A cabinet secretary personally working the phones to clear the field for his party's House candidates, and citing the oversight he would face if the other party wins, is close to a textbook Hatch Act fact pattern: the statute exists to keep officials from using the weight of their office to influence elections. The complaint now sits with the Office of Special Counsel, whose leadership serves at the pleasure of the president whose majority Kennedy was protecting.